


Like A Porcelain Doll

by CrazyBeCat



Series: Writer Bingo Challenge One [5]
Category: The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Hurt No Comfort, Mirandy Year of Fun & Frolics, Not A Happy Ending, Secret Affair, Writer Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 09:21:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14041119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyBeCat/pseuds/CrazyBeCat
Summary: Andy feels used, and broken. Like a shattered porcelain doll.Mature language, and descriptions.





	Like A Porcelain Doll

**Author's Note:**

> WELP! Here's another one for the Bingo Cards!  
> Card Five: Secret Affair.  
> It's angst and misery through and through, just a warning.  
> No beta, so it likely is riddled with errors. I wanted to post it before I lost my nerve, so my editing job isn't stellar.  
> I hope you still read it though.  
> Lots of Love,  
> CBC

Andy took a deep breath as she packed her last bag, bitterly thinking that it was a good thing she never officially moved in.

She scoffed. As if that had ever been the plan. No. She was just a toy, a bed-warmer. Something to fill the time as the hunt continued. A rebound, not meant to last. She only wished she’d been informed of that before it started.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she fought the urge to cry. She swiped at her cheeks, and pinched her thighs. She sat there, tears welling up in her eyes, trying to focus on the pain in her legs rather than the pain in her heart, or the pain that she felt every time she took a deep breath, and smelled the expensive perfume that permeated the bedroom.

Andy stood up, and pushed the heels of her palms into her eyes as she took a deep breath through her mouth and blew it out in a quick burst. She would not cry. She refused to cry. She wouldn’t give anyone the satisfaction of her tears.

Swallowing, she lifted the bag from the bed and made her way out of the room, closing the now empty dresser drawer that she had borrowed as she went, trying to close her heart in the same swift motion.

If only it was that easy.

Walking out of the room, she hiked the bag up against her hip as she stepped down the stairs, trying to ignore how she could feel every thump of her feet pounding in her head, making her vision blur and her breath shorten.

At the bottom, she placed her bag down gently, and wiped the sweat from her palms before plucking an envelope from a side pocket. She hadn’t realized how much it would hurt. Nate leaving hadn’t felt anything like this, and they’d been together for almost five years. But this was different- well, she thought it had been different. She had hoped it would be forever.

Turning to head back up, for the last thing she had to do, she nearly toppled off the step at the sight that greeted her. She steadied herself, and remained still, refusing to be the first one to speak.

“Andrea.” Ouch. Her chest ached at the sound of her name.

She remained silent. 

Miranda cleared her throat and flicked her hand in the direction of Andy’s bag. “I see you’re done in the bedroom.”

Andy bit her tongue, refusing to give Miranda the satisfaction of an eyeroll. She nodded. “All done in the bedroom. Just have one thing left to do, then I’ll be out.”

Miranda raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Don’t you ‘oh’ me. If you thought for one second I’d walk out of here without saying goodbye to the girls, then you’ve got another thing coming.” Andy steeled her nerves and finally began to move her way up the steps. She used every ounce of her being to keep her voice level and not begin to shout as she continued, “You let me get to know them. You let me take them places, and grow to love them. No matter how vile you’ve been with me I will not allow you to sour the relationship I’ve created with them. So, excuse me, while I go tell them I’m leaving.”

Turning so she didn’t brush against Miranda, Andy stepped around the older woman and made her way down the hall towards the twins’ bedrooms. She could feel Miranda’s eyes on her back, and refused to falter, refused to let Miranda spoil what Andy had built with the two girls.

Reaching Caroline’s room, Andy rapped her knuckles against the closed door.

“Door’s open.”

Opening the door, Andy smiled to see both girls. Caroline sitting at her desk, and Cassidy sprawled on her sister’s bed, reading. “I’ve got the last of my things, so I’m going to leave in a bit, but I wanted to say goodbye.”

Caroline scoffed. “Right. Well, goodbye, see you never.”

Cassidy didn’t even look up from her book.

Andy’s heart stung. She moved into the room, and sat on the edge of the bed, placing the envelope into her lap. “Caroline? Why do you say that? Do you not want to talk to me again?”

Caroline rolled her eyes. “Well, our own father barely takes the time to see us or talk to us. You aren’t even related to us. Mom’s broken up and ruined enough relationships, we know how this goes. It happened with Dad, it happened with Evan, it happened with Stephen, and now you. Don’t worry, we’ll tell mom you were nice to us so she doesn’t blacklist you.”

Swallowing, Andy took a deep breath. “I see. I’m sorry you feel that way. I would like to make something very clear before I go then. Whatever happened between your mother and I, does not mean I don’t care for you two anymore. I am also not named Evan, or Stephen. Why put me in front of a firing squad before I’ve committed a crime? My relationship with your mother is already over. The few things I had here are all packed up and ready to go. I’m not getting any brownie points by coming to say goodbye. I’m coming to say goodbye because during all of this, I grew to care for you, and enjoy the time we spent together. I had hoped you felt the same.”

Shaking her head, Andy calmed her temper. “Well. I appreciate you telling me how you feel. I’ll let you be, and give you the space to decide if you’d like to talk to me in the future or not. The ball’s in your court, but I would appreciate if you don’t then blame me for dropping contact with you. I hope that seems fair.” Standing, Andy put the envelope into the space she vacated. “These are for you two. If you don’t want them, that’s fine, do what you want with them.” She gave a pathetic little hand gesture. “I hope to hear from you.”

She left the room, the urge to cry only growing. So she hadn’t just lost Miranda then. Caroline obviously hated her, and Cassidy had been completely silent. So much for that then.

This time, upon seeing Miranda just a few steps down the hall, she couldn’t hold back the eyeroll. “Don’t worry, they seem to share your sentiment in crushing my feelings and never wanting to see me again.” She didn’t know what she was feeling anymore, her emotions were on the fritz and she had to get out of here before she shattered.

Forcing her legs to move, she walked past a silent Miranda, her hands clenched tightly at her sides. She forced her legs to carry her down the hall, and down the stairs. She forced her hands to unfurl and lift up her last bag. She forced her feet to continue moving towards the front door.

“Andrea.” She felt the single word- her name- beat into her like a hammer, the sound of it forcing her to stop moving.

She turned around to see Miranda just at the bottom of the stairs, and finally lost it. “What! What more do you want from me? What agony are going to inflict on me next? As if being your dirty little secret affair for the past two years wasn’t enough? I could handle being a secret, I agreed with your reasons, and I thought you loved me, goodness knows you told me all the time! But no, you were just stringing me along! Using me like some human fuckdoll to keep your bed warm as you found the next Mr. Priestly! God it’s so humiliating, coming over to surprise you with dinner, to find you in bed with that man’s cock between your thighs! And now I’m hearing from Caroline and Cassidy that I’m apparently just like your ex-husbands? Yet here you are, as if you and your family haven’t shattered my heart enough as it is, calling my name! Why couldn’t you just let me walk out of here? What, am I not good enough to use the front door? Can’t let the press catch sight of me by accident. Don’t want to read the headlines, “Secret Lesbian Lover,” on the next Page Six spread?”

Feeling herself deflate and the tears spring to her eyes, Andy choked on a sob. “And to think, to think that I still love you. To think that I still love you, and want you to be happy, after what you’ve done to me. God I’m such a fool.” She wiped at her cheeks with angry swipes, hating herself for crying. “Just, just let me be, Miranda. Let me go. Be free, be happy, fuck all the men you desire, but just please let me be.”

She barely heard it over the ringing in her ears, but it was there, a soft, quiet little, “I’m sorry, I do love you,” and it broke her. She could feel as all the little pieces of her heart shot away from her, as if she was a broken porcelain doll shattering against the tile floor. Or maybe one of Miranda's coffee mugs being thrown against the wall.

The pain burst through her chest, making her want to keel over, but instead she rallied every nerve in her body in order to reply, “Yeah, okay. You sure have a funny way of showing it. I hope you’re happy.” Turning, she opened the door and stepped out onto the stoop. “Tell the girls that I hope they enjoy seeing Hamilton. At least there’s four tickets, they can each bring a friend, instead of you and me going with them.”

She adjusted her grip on her bag, and she closed the door, refusing to look backwards, refusing to give Miranda the last word. She deserved better, no matter how much she’d grown to love Miranda, she didn’t deserve to be lied to, cheated on, tricked, or abused in this way.

She allowed herself to cry as she walked in the direction of the subway entrance, allowed herself to mourn the three relationships she’d lost in just a matter of days, but as she neared the stairs down to the train, she brushed away the tears and boxed away her feelings. She wouldn’t let the Priestly family affect her this way any longer, they’d hurt her enough as it was; now it was time to move on.

**Author's Note:**

> EEK! *hides under the table*  
> I'd like to know what you thought?  
> Thanks for reading!  
> Lots of Love,  
> CBC


End file.
